Name of the Project
Schaft Creek copper/molybdenum/gold/silver porphyry deposit.

Location
Tahltan Territory, in north-western British Columbia, in Canada.

Project Owner/s
Schaft Creek Joint Venture, which is owned by Teck Resources (75%) and Copper Fox (25%). 

Project Description
The project is expected to produce 2.27-million tonnes of copper, 3.7-million ounces of gold, 226-million pounds of molybdenum and 16.41-million ounces of silver in concentrate over its 21-year mine life.

The preliminary economic assessment (PEA) envisages the mining of the Schaft Creek deposit as a conventional truck-and-shovel openpit operation. Total mine production is estimated to be 1.03-billion tonnes of mill feed and 1.03-billion tonnes of waste rock, resulting in a life-of-mine (LoM) strip ratio of 1:1.

The 21-year mine plan uses about 60% of the mineral resource base and provides options to extend the mine life and/or increase its throughput.

The mining operation will start in an area of higher-grade material for processing in years 1 to 5 of milling operations, before transitioning to the south end of the Liard zone. The push back to the north results in increased annual tonnes of waste mined to provide access to mineralisation in the next phase of the mine plan. The final phase extends to the ultimate pit bottom, which, based on the resource block model, would end in mineralisation.

The mine plan includes a stockpiling strategy to ensure optimal LoM mill feed grade. Run-of-mine ore will be delivered to a gyratory crusher at the edge of the pit and transported by conveyor to a coarse ore stockpile near the mill site.

The processing plant is designed with a planned nominal throughput of 133 000 t/d at 92% capacity. The throughput ranges from 48.5-million to 51.5-million tonnes a year, averaging 49.1-million tonnes a year, primarily as a result of the comminution characteristics of the mineralisation. 

The milling process is a conventional grinding and flotation circuit comprising two process trains to produce a high-quality copper concentrate with significant gold and silver by-product credits and a separate molybdenum concentrate.

Each of the process trains comprises a semiautogenous mill, ball mills, pebble crushers, primary grinding, bulk rougher/scavenger flotation, bulk concentrate regrinding and cleaner flotation circuits.

Tailings will be transported to the tailings management facility through pipelines.

Potential Job Creation
Not stated.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
The project has a pretax net present value, at an 8% discount rate, of $1.38-billion and an internal rate of return of 15.2%, with a payback of 4.4 years.

Capital Expenditure
Initial capital costs are estimated at $2.65-billion.

Planned Start/End Date
Permitting, detailed engineering, equipment procurement, construction, and startup to full production, based on the PEA, is estimated to take five-years. 

Latest Developments
None stated.

Key Contracts, Suppliers and Consultants
Tetra Tech Canada (PEA).

Contact Details for Project Information
Copper Fox, tel  +1 403 264 2820 or email info@copperfoxmetals.com.